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Who pays? That can touch on familial issues of control. I have clients who bring me their adult children's tax docs and communicate with me every step of the way. Their kids are married, highly-paid young professionals, living in other states. One of the kids found an excuse to leave our firm, the real reason being "they mean well but...." The other two are still with me, but I communicate with them directly via phone and email. Mommy usually rushes in the minute the returns are done to pick up and pay the bill. I can't complain because we're talking a couple grand here, paid instantly. This year I decided to send one of the "kids" the bill and guess what, he paid. Mommy felt a bit put out. Come on, he makes over a half mil a year. Another dad still insists on paying for his kid, who is an attorney working in NYC for a Fortune 500 company. (She pays more just in taxes than I earn in two years.) Another mom just paid for her daughter and significant other's returns, both making well over $100k each. Please, parents, let your children grow up. And that goes for the ones who are doing exceptionally well and those who are still struggling. My practice is to bill the child unless told otherwise.

New avatar? Great idea!! Here's mine

Welcome Edsel. Its gonna be quiet around here in about 3 days, however... Rich

I only communicate with the "kids" even though parents include those documents in with their own. I have one mom who pays via son's checkbook which he leaves with mom while he's out to sea (marine engineer) for weeks at a time. I think all my "kids" pay their own taxes and some pay my invoices. But, some parents still pay me for their whole family; I'll take money from anyone. Well, at least from any of my clients.

We have a friend who wants a phone with Caller IQ - so he only has to bother answering if the caller is smart enough to bother with. Trouble is, I have lots of "smart" clients who think that a PhD in rocket science translates directly into tax expertise. Nope; sorry; utter lack of one-to-one correspondence. Go back to babysitting your radar dish, buddy.

Yes, Welcome! Many of us left or no longer even go to the other board for the same reason. Here we try to treat each other with the dignity and respect each of us deserve, and personally I have found this board very enlightening and helpful.

If the kids choose to let their parents bring in their stuff and pick it up, I am fine with that. But once they are 18, I usually insist on something in writing to let the parents pick up the kids return. They are entitled to confidentiality, and I am required by law to respect that.

We love you, @Gail in Virginia.

"Better out than in, I always say" - Shrek.

We have a carrier!! Azone is a solvent absorbed through the skin, and will transport stuff with it. See http://www.bioline.org.br/pdf?pr09023 "Chemical Penetration Enhancers for Transdermal Drug Delivery Systems" by Pathan and Setty. Now all we need is the drug. Hmm.... I have a couple of clients who work for big pharma companies.

Bill the taxpayer, unless they are a minor. Easy rule. If Mom & Dad pay, I don't care.

BHoffman, vent away any time you need to. You are among friends here that understand the stress, and it's better to not hold that in. And then there's this: *spins around to see if someone is behind me* Is there someone back there that you are speaking to, surely not me! Grace under pressure?! I have to say, that actually made me laugh out loud because I'm a stubborn Taurus, blunt and with a bull in a china shop attitude that pops out, usually at the worst moment possible. Thanks for the chuckle. If I didn't like my current avatar so much I should change it to something much more representative, perhaps something like this:

Actually, working helps. I can't go see him all the time - he needs to rest and that is hard enough to do in the hospital. But the hospital is close enough that I can duck out a couple of times a day and check in with him. But thanks for all the good wishes - and Catherine, I can't tell you how much your offer means to me! I love this group of people. Now I might just have to go and have a good cry before I go back to work.

Greetings. I am trying out this message board after avoiding it for many years. The old ATXers had degenerated to vulgar usage and comments about women, so I have not been interested. You might say I am a refugee from another message board, which was very good for a long time. I am finding out that many of my old friends from that board are over here now. I've been reading some of the topics and it appears this board is very relevant. There is a member on the other board who answers every single post and never answers a question. After so many of his responses like "Have you read the instructions" or "contact the lawyer of the deceased" I finally blocked him. If he finds out about this message board, you will know what I'm talking about, unfortunately. I was recently told about this forum, and may try posting questions here. My surname, Edsel, is a famous classic epitomy of a failed venture.

On this forum, making any derogatory comments about women may likely get you a hug from Rita. Now she's a sweetheart overall, but you don't want THAT type of hug from Rita.

Well, there are always some die-hards poking around. And there are plenty of old posts to read to get a flavor of personalities. After a couple of weeks' recuperation, it starts getting more active again as people turn to their extension clients and post questions.

Dear BHoffman, I'm also very sorry to hear of your extremely stressful situation. Mine (and maybe some others here too) pales by comparison and I apologize if I inadvertently made light of the severe struggle you've undergone. I suppose there's not much practical help anyone can offer in such matters, but we can listen, sympathize, and pray that things work out and fall into place for you. While I'm fairly new around here, this is the nicest bunch of people and posters I've ever encountered and I'm sure they are all thinking of you and pulling for you. Best wishes and tell that husband of yours you've got lots of friends here who are going to be really mad at him if he doesn't try and turn things around for you. Sincerely, BB

Prayers to you, Gail. Go see our dad.

Yes, welcome to the group. We hope you will like it here. It does scale down with much less activity off season, but there is a core group that is here all year. I'm sorry to hear that anyone or a company hosting a professional forum would allow the behavior you mention re: the comments about women. We don't have that here, and really hardly any foul language at all. Is that on the ATX forum or some other place?

If you're in this business long enough you'll have a slew of clients' kids who are either living at home, on their own, and with college degrees, some going to grad school, who become your new clients. I find them neglectful in timely returning authorization forms so I start contacting them April 1st so I don't get jammed up this week (like that works). When I get the forms back many times there is no check. Now I have to contact them again and the answer I hear is so common, "I thought my parents paid." When I was in their position I wouldn't even think of asking my parents for anything because I knew the answer would be no,

I don't mean to the poster child for tax season misery, and wish I hadn't vented here about being mad at Hubby. We've been married since 1991. He can be a real pr!ck but he's never boring.

I am going to find some chemical geniuses to help me create a liquid... This liquid would be absorbed instantly into any papers we give to our clients. It would also instantly infuse through their skin when they touch the paper. The liquid would have a psychosomatic drug mixture that would go immediately to their brain. There it would implant, in the correct neurons, the instinct to follow ALL instructions given to them by their tax accountant. It would also replace the neurons that contain common sense, logic and manners. I am currently looking for investors....

Well, I'm sorry to hear what you go through, B. I don't sleep well either, but nothing like that. My comment was in response to what Rich said after I made the comment saying my husband said I should scrap the biz and do something else and Rich replied that his wife has learned not to suggest a different job because this is his career, blah, blah, blah. Well, this is my career too, been doing this since '81 and don't see that changing any time soon. I was venting one night and husband understands that, even if I described it wrong on here. Sorry I even mentioned it at all.

I think you need Rita to give him a talking to, then everything will be fine after the 18th when he takes you out to dinner and tells you he's sorry. This business is hard on our spouses these 3 months, so we need to be the better person and understand their frustrations, I know, I've been buying her a new pair of shoes every week. And that helps to keep the covers on my side.

Judy, I think BB was talking about my complaint. When I'm tired, I get pretty negative in my thoughts. When I'm over stressed, I have trouble eating and sleeping. Two nights in a row, he rolled over and took the covers with him. In a row. So, for two days I got about 6 hours of sleep. I complained and said I was going to sleep in the guest room. Got the big silent treatment from him and cold shoulder. So, I continued to sleep in our bed and the "tuck and roll" stopped. In my mind, I figured he was just playing some passive aggressive game to get even with me for being generally grouchy but not overtly nasty during the best of tax seasons. My appetite sucks when I'm over stressed. I usually only eat to survive and need lots of lean protein and veggies. Carbs and fried stuff just don't work. And, I need to have dinner by 7pm or else I can't hope to sleep before midnight. He made absolutely no effort to help me out with that, so I ended up spending a fortune on meals delivered by DoorDash and that restaurant food with my nerves ran right through me. I am a little OCD all of time, but it comes out in full force during tax season. If I don't have that diet ginger ale at 3pm, the world will surely end. He is supposed to do all of the shopping during tax season because part of my OCD involves germaphobia and grocery stores are filthy dens of disease. He left me without the ginger ale for about four days until I stopped asking and also stopped speaking to him. Years ago, he used to protect my sleep and guard my health during tax season. I don't know what has changed, but he just seemed not to care this year. I think we need to talk, kindly and as the friends we used to be.

BB, you've given me a great idea on what to do with that old laptop that's waiting for destruction. Hope it doesn't cause a trip to the ER for stitches. hee hee. Just kidding, of course. I don't know how my last post translated into my husband not being supportive. There's no arguing; I made a comment in frustration and he commented. Y'all didn't hear the context or tone. It was a release valve is all, and I assure you that all is well. We'll be celebrating our 25th anniversary next month so husband has been through many tax seasons, and every year he's done about 99% of the grocery shopping and cooking too, and he does some pretty good meals, I must say!

I'm pretty sure we all feel like that about our significant others (would be tough finding better/cheaper replacements), but I'm in Ms. Hoffman's camp this time - we've bickered more this season than I can ever remember (if IRS adds one more line to 8867 I'm goin' to Little Rock myself and carry one of those protest signs). We're still speaking, but we've had a venting system in place for some years. I slam down officer machinery - she throws staplers (no; not at each other/in the presence of clients). So far I'm down two Canon calculators and a couple of wastebaskets while she's out 3-Ace Cadets/1-Paper Pro staplers. I figure it's about the best $300 or so I've ever spent. If I ever switch to that Judy's ten-key thing I'll go nuts - can't afford to body-slam my Dell computer. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Overheard joke: "Have you heard Bill's wife is leaving him for another guy?" "No. Who?" "She said: ANYBODY ELSE!"

The Tax Book says: "The allocation percentage can be any amount between zero and 100% that is agreed upon by each taxpayer. If the taxpayers do not agree on an allocation percentage, then the allocation percentage is equal to the number of enrollees claimed as a personal exemption divided by the total number of individuals enrolled in the qualified health plan." Hope this helps.

Um. No.